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Sadly we had to say goodbye to Brett and Julz as they headed back to Johannesburg - the end of a long weekend is never a good time to travel. The campsite certainly felt very empty. Anyway, as we all know, the Kruger is food for the soul so SO and I headed out for our last drive from Tsendze. Our route took us passed Shipanadane along the S146 to Stapelkop Dam. We had never travelled this road before. It was an interseting and bumpy ride - there are a few very unique koppies next to the road where we expected to see a few Klipspringers but not to be. There is an amazing Baobab that clings to one of these rocky outcrops. The wind really got up and was blowing gales by the time we reached Stapelkop. The weather spoilt the visit somewhat but we nevertheless spent time viewing the action - or lack of it. We battled to identify these birds until it eventually dawned on us that they must be immature Saddle-billed Storks. The give away was the large mantle on their beaks

This Fork-tailed Drongo was nearly blown off its perch a few times

A large herd of Impala came down to drink. They were very alert which made us suspect that there could possibly be a predator around. They were snorting and very skittish. Well no predator showed up - mit seemed to be one of those trips of so near but so far!

The trip back yielded this lone Giraffe that blended in with the mopani trees

It was still relatively early so we decided to head over to the Mooiplaas waterhole before heading back to camp. En-route we saw Korhaan and Zebra crossing the road and at Mooiplaas Tsessebbe (once again) and Zebra who were trying to cope with a real dust storm

Nearer to Tsendze the ever present Ellies showed up - this young one was enjoying its pickings of dry grass. It is amazing how they knock the ground off the roots before they eat the grass

During the afternoon we gradually (and with a heavy heart) started packing up because our five days at Tsendze had come to an end. Whilst busy with our chores Roger popped in to tell me that there was a White-faced Scops Owlet near No 27. It was sitting on a low branch a mere 1m from the ground which seemed odd. It seemed totally relaxed with all the attention that it was receiving

Just before sunset we took a walk around the perimeter of the camp before lighting the fire for the braai. The smooth Merlot, the call of a Scops Owl in the distance and the deep rumbling from nearby elephants brought the curtain down on a great stay at Tsendze

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

Super Mongoose wrote:Hi Canon, post some more pictures of the Tsendse camp site pls, it seems a lot of the forumies want to go to Tsendse soon.

I unfortunately do not have any more pics of Tsendze. This Google Earth shot may give you some idea. You can see that No 3 is possibly the most private - may lack a bit of shade in summer though. No 26,27,28 are very popular. They are on the opposite side to No 3, bordering on Mooiplaas picnic site

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

We were up early to break camp - could not believe how much dust had got into everything! We were heading to a Time Share just outside Hazyview today where we would be spending the next four days before returning to Maroela. To be honest we were looking forward to a bit of luxury - big bath, clean sheets etc. Once packed up we said cheers to Rogers and Elina before heading south along the tarred road. We decided to drive all the way down the park to exit at Phabeni gate. This would take most of the day.

You would have noticed that in 10 days we had only had one cat sighting - the lioness with her cubs near Babalala. We had promised ourselves that we would not be cat hunting on this trip but I must confess that we were getting a bit anxious! We had heard Lions on two occasions during the night whilst at Tsendze but never saw them. A Leopard also strolled past the campsites on the other side of the camp one morning - No's 26,27,28 & 29. However we were now going to be in cat country so we trusted that our turn would come.

The drive was quiet and relaxing - when towing our trailer one is nervous of Ellies because it is not always easy to reverse when panic mode sets in. Brunch on the deck at Olifants was very welcome. The drive down to Satara was great - plenty to see. It is amazing that once you exit the Mopani veld sightings pick up. There was plenty of action at the Ngotso Dam with big herds of Buffalo and Elephant present

Further along more Ellies at Ngotso South waterhole as well as a Purple Roller and some Blue Wildebeest near Satara

We pulled in at Satara for our customary ice cream before heading off down to Tshokwane. Along this stretch we saw a Baboon near the road and more Ellies. A Spotted Hyena crossed the road but I was too slow to get a pic

Kumana and Mazithi Dams had the usual suspects having a drink and about one kilometer from Tshokwane we saw a bit of a roadblock. There were 10 Lions lying on the opposite bank of the N'waswitsontso river. The were fast asleep until two unsuspecting Warthogs trotted across the road heading straight towards the Lions. They suddenly sat up and the young lions were, I thought, going to have a go at the Warthogs. Well, when the hogs saw the Lions they hit turbo boost and dashed back across the road

We grabbed a bite to eat at Tshokwane - jeez this place is expensive - before heading off again. Trip down to Sabie rive was quiet. We saw these entertaining Baboons on the banks of the Sabie and watched them for quite a while

Sadly I have a bit of a sick story to tell here. There was a white Mazda/Ford B2500 in front of us reg (DCH---MP). The clown who was driving decided that it was appropriate to toss a cup of water over these baboons that you have just seen in the pic. Unbelievable. That is not all - a little way futher up there was a delightful sighting of a mother baboon letting its little (and I mean so little that it was still pink) baby suckle. They were right next to the road on the left hand side. SO was about to take a photograph of them when whoosh out came another cup of water that drenched the baby. This was absolute lunacy. I pulled up next to them and told them off only have vulgar signs and language thrown back at me. What do people like this do in the park!

We got out at Phabeni Gate at about 16h00 to check in at Waterberry Hill. A day trip back into Kruger was on the cards - probably on Wednesday

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

We spent two days relaxing at waterberry Hill outside Hazyview but by now I was itching to get to Lake Panic and the Skukuza surrounds. SO decided to spend the day at the swimming pool so I set sail for Phabeni gate bright and early. I got to the gate at 05h45 and could not believe that I was No 54 in the que!! Anyway they handled things very pofessionally and it was not long before I was in the park. I was behind a fellow who had his daily supply of drinks confiscated at the gate - he refused to hand them over so spent an eternity emtying bthe beers into the bin one by one. This irritated me somewhat because I was itching to get into the park. Of course the poor guy at the gate got a mouthfull from this guy - he was simply doing his job!

It is also quite funny how people always want to be in front when they enter through the gate - I must have had at least 5 vehicles roar past me , clearly not looking out for game, just to get ahead.

Thew sunrise was absolutely beautiful

Not far up the Doipane road these Lions crossed the road. I got there a bit late but it looked like a few Lionesses with quite big cubs

I was keen to spend most of the morning at Lake Panic. Unfortunately the light is not good early in the morning because you look straight into the sun. There were already quite a few people in the hide and I must say that I felt quite intimidated by the cameras and huge lenses that did not seem in short supply. The wirrr of moror drives etc that went evry time a Mossie flew past was something to behold. Anyway I curled up in the corner and had fun as well. Here are some of the pics

There is plenty more to come from Lake Panic - I will be away till Monday and will continue with the Lake Panic wxperience then......

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

By now I was getting a touch claustrophobic in the hide so decided to get out and take a drive around the Skukuza area before coming back later on

As I was about to leave this Darter posed nicely

....and this Fish Eagle flew past. It looked as though it was busy building a nest close by

I drove along the S65 and sat at the N'waswitshaka waterhole for a while. The usual suspects were there having a drink. The folk in the car next to me told me that a Leopard had been seen here just before I arrived....Damn!Close to the intersection of the H1-1 and H3 I spotted a number of Klipspringers in the koppies. They really are nimble footed on the rocks

From there I proceeded down the H3 and then across to the Renosterkoppies waterhole via the S112. This waterhole was unusually quiet except for the usual racket associated with the jeep jockeys! Further up the S114 I came across this fellow having a leisurely snooze. All that bothered it was the Oxpeckers that insisted on cleaning its eyes

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

I grabbed a quick pie at Skukuza (I get claustrophobic when visiting this camp) and headed back to Lake Panic to see what more it had to offer before heading home.

I am not sure what this bird is - some sort of juv Heron I would imagine

Another African Darter

Drinking water whilst doing a hand stand cannot be easy!

This Goliath Heron sat for ages waiting for its lunch and had us all waiting with bated breath for that magical shot. Alas, it had a number of aborted "kills" but patience is a virtue - it eventually snared a little titbit

This Black-headed Heron also caught a tasty morsal for lunch

This Malachite perched near me - I was too late to capture its spectacular dive into the water to catch a little fish which it flew away with before I could find it in the lens - need some practice

What a life...

There was huge commotion in the reeds on the far side of the lake - the general consensus was that a croc had had a go at the Waterbuck that were grazing amongst these reeds. This was definitely a hair-raising experience for this Goliath Heron. It voiced its displeasure in no uncertain terms

All of a sudden there was a huge commotion coming from directly behind the hide - a family of Ellies had arrived for a drink. Some of them were so close that you could almost touch them. The ensuing stampede in the hide to get to the one end was enough to send me packing. I took a few shots and left the Ellies to enjoy their bath

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

Friday dawned and we made an early start to get back into the Park. WE decided to head up the dreaded R40 through Bushbuckridge to enter at Orpen gate. This trip at 06h00 in the norning is certainly not for sissies! We did contemplate a slow trip up through the park from Kruger Gate but thought it wise to get to Maroela as early as possible to hopefully secure a good camping site. We would be at Maroela for 7 nights so important to be comfortable and happy with the view. Check in went smoothly and we were at Maroela by 09h30 and found a lovely site next to the fence overlooking the Timbavati River. The site was right on the end next to the "wooden lookout". After setting up camp we had a rest and set out for our first drive on the second leg of our stay in Kruger. We needed to find a Leopard now - who knows when?

We headed up the H7 to Satara and then down the S100. At one of the pools of water along the river we saw this group of White Rhinos

We stopped off at a quiet lay by to have a cuppa and out of the blue this Honey badger appeared in the river bed. I was taken by surprise and sadly had the wrong settings for the pic, hence the poor quality

From there we headed down to Nwanetzi to stretch our legs and then went on to the Sweni Hide - one of my favourite spots in the part of Kruger. There was plenty of action, especially from the very vocal Hippos.

There were a number of Yellow-billed Storks present - some sunning themselves and others wading in the water.

These Yellow-billed Storks do not stalk their prey as such, but will usually walk slowly through the water and then dash after and grab whatever moves. This would imply, therefore, that prey is detected by sight but this stork tends to use touch. This it does by walking with the open bill partly submerged, generally sweeping it from side to side and often, when detecting something close by, will also employ "foot trembling" to scare prey into the open mandibles that snap shut as soon as something touches them

The Yellow-billed Stork also exhibits interesting behaviour when chasing after prey or when simply moving through relatively still, shallow water. It will suddenly lift a wing vertically above the body - a behaviour called "wing flashing". They invariably raise the wing that is closest to the sun. This presumably causes a shadow to fall over the head and bill area which may feasably attract small animals seeking shade - these would then come in contact with the bill and be snapped up.

Last edited by canon on Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

We were taking a slow cruize down the H6 until, when about 4km from the Maroela turn-off.......LEOPARD. There were quite a few cars but not too bad and everybody could see because this lady had positioned herself nice and high up in a Marula tree. What a great sighting hence this overkill of pics - we had waited long enough!

One thing was for sure - the beer was sweet that evening!!

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

Another beautiful Kruger morning dawned and as usual the caravan next door "creaked" us all awake - that floor certainly needed some attention. Nevertheless we were not sorry because not much can beat an early morning cup of coffee whilst looking over the dry Timbavati river bed with the sun rising in the east.

On our way out we popped in to say hi to one of Maroela's resident African Scops Owlets who was already fast asleep after a long night out

As we reached the T-junction onto the H7 we saw this Black-backed Jackal

A few kilometers down the H7 and there was great excitement - something resembling a young Leopard darted across the road about 100m ahead of us. We hastened to the point where it crossed and were just in time to see a Serval disappearing into the long grass. We had not seen a AServal for many years and were very excited about this sighting, albeit too brief for a decent photograph. Bouyed up by this special sighting we proceeded on down the H7. We could not believe our luck ..... another Leopard very close to where we had seen the Leopard with its kill the previous evening. We wondered if this could possibly be the same one.

What a start to the morning! We decided that we would take a long drive down the S36 passed the Lugmag Dam and then head across to the H1-3 back to Satara. Well the warning signs were soon there - this road was in shocking condition. No matter what speed we drove at the bones started rattling. Anyway we soldiered on seeing this Ellie family along the way

A stop at Muzandzeni picnic spot was essential to calm the nerves before heading on south. The usually productive Shimangwaneni Dam was relatively quiet except for these Vultures who were drying themselves off after an early morning swim

By the time we got to the Talamati turn-off we had had enough - it was no longer a pleasure to drive on this horribly corrugated road so we decided to head back to Maroela along the S145 - S140 that passes Talamati. This road was not much better and it made me wonder if the traffic to Hoya Hoya and Hamiltons had anything to do with this road condition. A number of busses carrying staff as well as delivery vehicles passed us on this route - most of them travelling at break-neck speed!

We stopped at the Mahlabyanini waterhole for a while hoping to see a few animals coming to drink but to no avail. These Ellies were drinking in the N'waswitsonto River

We got back to camp a lot earlier than expected and enjoyed a relaxing time in the camp. A short evening drive to Bobbejaan Krantz was uneventful but for a troop of Baboons

By the time we returned to camp our Scopsies had woken up

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014

You will be wondering why there is no report on Day 12 of our Kruger visit. Well the answer is quite simple - I formatted my card before downloading the photographs!! Very stupid and disappointing because I had some lovely shots of a LBR that had caught a large scorpion. Anyway I will hopefully have learnt a good lesson here.

We left camp at 06h00 on the dot because we were heading off to Satara to do the Mananga Adventure Trail. No pre-bookings are allowed so we hoped that we we get there in time - only 6 vehicles per day allowed on the trail.

En-route along the way we saw this Rhino leaving a waterhole

A little further along this Lion crossed the road and lay down right next to the tarmac. He had blood on his ears which seemed to indicate that he had been in a brawl recently

We got to Satara at about 07h30 and hoped that we would not be too late to get our permit to do the Mananga Adventure Trail. Fortunately we were on time so did the necessary paperwork which included an indemnity form. Quite expensive I thought (nearly R500 for the day). I did a quick calculation

Average of 5 vehicles per day x 365 days x R460 = R840000.00!!

I wish they could channel this money into maintaining some of the roads. We studied the map and soon figured out that the trail was in a figure 8 with 4 possible entry points. We decided to head up the H1-4 towards Olifants. At some point one turns right onto the trail heading in an easterly direction on a "twee spoor" track. One immediately senses isolation away from the maddening crowds which is why one does these trails. We soon saw this handsome Rhino bull

You are allowed to get out of your vehicle on this trail which adds a whole new dimension to the Kruger experience. We drove really slowly soaking up all forms of wildlife as we went along. This Mongoose was sunning himself and was unpeturbed by our interest in him

There were plenty of Sandgrouse around

A little way further down the track we saw a herd of Elephant in the distance. We stopped and got out for a while - sat on a log watching the Ellies grazing peacefully - such a great feeling

A herd of inquisitive Zebra walked past - seemed quite wary of us

We reached a waterhole on the banks of the Mavumbye River. This was the centre of the figure 8. The waterhole (think it is called Eland) was busy with plenty of antelope coming down to drink

From here we decided to take the route that followed the Mavumbye River right down to where the trail joins the S41 near the Gudzani Dam. This is a lovely driove and in my opinion the best part of the trail. Unfortunately the wind had got up and this spoied the drive somewhat because the animals appeared to be seeking shelter in the riverine bush. This LBR posed beautifully for its photograph before flying off

SO spotted this raptor which was seeking shelter from the wind. Looks like an immature Bateleur

There were plenty of Waterbuck to be seen. This was a fine speciman

We came across a large herd of Giraffe which kept us entertained for quite a while

These two fellows were clearly at loggerheads with each other

There was plenty of "sparring" taking place with some heavy body blows being inflicted on the smaller Giraffe. Giraffe do not defend territories, but males will develop a local hierachy by fighting one another, the reward for the highest ranked male being access to femalesin oestrus. Sparring involves the adversaries standing next to each other and attempting to land blows with their short stubby horns (ossicles) by swinging their necks and using their heads as hammers. The skulls of male Giraffe become heavier and more knobbly with age, making for a more effective weapon during sparring. Blows are aimed anywhere on the body, and the duels can continue for hours until one individual becomes submissive and backs away. Sparring appears quite comical at times as each individual appears to be scrutinizing their opponents tactics and abilities - each trying to land the decisive blow without leaving itself open to retaliation. Giraffe have the uncanny ability of pulling away timeously from heavy blows, thereby reducing bthe impact from hits that could quite easily break necks or kill. These contests result in the ntop of the horns becoming rounded, shiny and denuded of hair - a handy way of sexing a Giraffe.This Giraffe made o few big hits on its opponents neck but did not seem to be inflicting any serious damage

Towards the end of the section of the trail we disturbed this Rhino and her offspring who were sleeping peacefully in the middle of the road. I am not sure who got the biggest fright - me or the Rhino!

WE ALL HAVE TWO CHOICES : We can make a living or we can design a life

Small Parks Promoter of the Year 2014Sighting of the Year - non Predator 2014Trip Report of the Year - other Parks 2014